History of the Civic Si

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We look back at the evolution of the sportiest Civic.

By Justin Kaehler

Honda's Civic Si has come back from the dead and is poised to reclaim its throne as the king of all sport compacts. Everyone that has taken the latest hopped-up Civic for a spin agrees that it is one of the best and sportiest cars that Honda has ever built. If you read our review of the car (and shame on you if you haven't), you'd know that we whole-heartedly agree.

The story of the Civic Si is only 20 years old, but this is the car that single-handedly kicked off the whole import/tuner scene. No seriously... if it wasn't for the wild success of the Civic Si within the tuner scene, we wouldn't have things like The Fast and the Furious, Need for Speed: Underground or even D1.

With the Civic Si being such an important part of the tuner scene, we thought we'd take a minute and look back at the history of this impressive vehicle.

1985-1987 Civic Si A lot of good things happened in 1985: Back to the Future opened in theatres, the Nintendo Entertainment System hit store shelves and uber-hottie Keira Knightley was born. 1985 was also the year the Civic Si hit U.S. streets.

Based on the already sporty Civic "S" model, the Si gave the Civic's 1.5-liter powerplant some much-need fuel injection. (FYI: the "S" stands for "sport", so "Si" stands for "sport injection".) Honda's economy car was now making an unheard-of (at the time) 91 horsepower. Suspension tuning was done on this sporty Civic so that the chassis' potential would match that of the engine.

A sportier Civic Si was also made at this time, but we all know it as the CRX. The CRX Si shared the same platform and mechanical bits with the standard Civic Si, but the CRX was lighter and stiffer than its hatchback sibling. Both cars were pretty quick for the time, too. Zero-to-sixty times came in at under 9 seconds - about 2 seconds quicker than the standard "S" model.

While this car was popular with road racers at the time, it really hasn't aged well, and as such has been all but ignored by modern-day enthusiasts. Nice and clean examples of this first Civic Si are almost impossible to come by these days.

Civic CRX Si

1989-1991 Civic Si Now this is the car that launched Civic Nation. The Civic underwent a redesign in 1988, and the result was this boxy (but beautiful) machine. All the JDM fanboys call this car the "EF" Civic, as its in-house chassis code starts off with the letters "EF". (Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!)

Power for the Civic (and CRX) Si came from an all-new 1.6-liter inline four that put out 108 horsepower and 100 lb.-ft. of torque. Zero-to-Sixty times were now in the mid-8 second range. The suspension of this Civic was beefed up even more, with a Formula 1-inspired fully-independent double wishbone set-up finding a home at all four corners of the car. This was the best-handling Civic yet.

The interior also got some love thanks to the factory Recaro seats. There may not be a huge "Recaro" logo stitched on the backs of these things, but trust us, these seats are top-notch.

While the U.S.-spec EF Civic Si was a good car, the Japanese got an even better version. A dual overhead cam VTEC engine (code-named B16) was found under the hood of all JDM Civic Si-R models. This VTEC engine boasted a close-ratio transmission, 160 horsepower and 111 lb.-ft. of torque. In the early 1990's, American Civic fans found that these B-series engines bolted right up to their U.S.-spec Civics, thus sparking the Honda Hybrid craze.

The underpinnings of this EF Civic form the platforms of every Civic and Integra made through 2000, so the aftermarket for this car is huge. From what we hear, only the Mustang has a bigger aftermarket parts catalog.

This is still our favorite Civic Si. Once we get the garage space (and cash) for another project car, we'd love to build a super-clean EF hatch. Someday...